Woman's 911 call provided license to car leaving brother's shooting

Alexia Barnes' call to Sedgwick County 911 was understandably emotional. Her brother had just been shot.

But amid the frantic scene that May night two years ago, she was able to give a license plate of the car and descriptions of the men who had fled Vincent Barnes' apartment, leaving him clinging to life.

Barnes, 33, died after being shot in the abdomen, and the jurors heard his sister's 911 call to open the trial of Michael Reed, 29, this afternoon in Sedgwick County District Court.

The shooting took place on May 15, 2009, the night before Reed's brother, Robert, was supposed to be married.

"It was a bachelor party that went very, very wrong," prosecutor Lance Gillett told jurors in his opening statements.

Attorney Lee McMaster opted not to give the defense's version of events until it begins presenting its case.

"Michael Reed wanted to provide a party favor for his brother," Gillett said. "That party favor was cocaine."

Gillett said Michael Reed looked several places looking for the drug. Then he called Barnes.

"Vincent hung up on him," Gillett said. "He said he didn't have any cocaine."

Angered, prosecutors say, Reed, his brother and a third man went to Barnes' apartment in the 500 block of North Florence, near Central and West Street

Police said at the time they didn't find cocaine at Barnes' apartment or on the Reeds.

Robert J. Reed, 23, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in January and is serving a 19 1/2-year prison sentence. A third man, Jeremy Trout, also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last September and is awaiting sentencing later this month.

The trial resumes Wednesday morning before Judge Jeff Syrios.

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